After a busy week of work I avoided the desire to take a nap and went across the street for the remaining daylight. The wind had died down and some snow had melted. The red curbs still had a little snow so I stuck to the og curb. My right knee was hurting a bit, but I skated alright. Pretty quickly I started hucking nollie back tail shoves along with a bunch of other tricks. I got a pretty funny one. I was trying a lot of switch crooks. I woiuld even kind of get a few. I went in on nollie back tail shoves and tried to film one. Jake drove by and almost threw me off before I realized it was him driving over the curb. Ha. My phone died pretty quickly in the cold, but I was pretty close to a lot of them. Flip tricks are hard on the rough uneven parking lot. I got kickflip, fakie flip, halfcab flip, b/s flip, the worst f/s flip in history, close to treflip and f/s halfcab flip and couldn’t get heelflip. I also never got a clean manual. Since the curb wasn’t waxed almost everything was just a stall. I came close to front crook and hucked a few kickflip front 50. I got kick back axle and tried to varial flip out. Ha. Got close to kick back tails. Then eventually ran out of energy and called it a day. I was hyped I hucked a lot, got another nollie back tail shove and didn’t get run over by Jake.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 right knee and not much juice in the legs)

After dinner I was sitting around about to watch the Nuggets lose and decided I should probably try some flippers in the garage. I had reassembled my 8.25 setup with 5.6 v-hollow and 50mm wheels. It felt like a dream. Warming up was okay, kickflips weren’t consistent, but fakie flip, halfcab flip and b/s flip were all real quick. I tried cabs for awhile and kind of got them. If I had more space I think I would have done a proper one. Then I tried to combine all of the previous tricks into one glorious cab flip. I never got my feet on one, but a few did feel close. Then I went in on treflips. I was really hoping to get at least one in 10 tries, but I didn’t. I was about to get bummed, but then landed the 12th and 13th. Then another a few tries later. 3/17 is my best in a long time. Still want to get my 3 tres in under 10 tries though and obviously going to keep working on them. I tried nollie flips for awhile, not too close. Switch front heels, but I ran out of steam. I was happy I skated.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire f4 50mm classic shape 99a, new balance numeric 212. b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10 not so much sore just didn’t have much juice)

On a warm and breezy afternoon I went to Saul’s right after work.  I had my new dedicated Saulside setup.  Basically my 8.5 that I never want to try and ride in the streets again.  It was a really fun session.  Everyone skated hard and we had some good laughs jabbing at each other and denying complements.  Ha ha.  Jake can do a ton of tricks there and link long lines.  Front 5-0s, front disaster revert, flies over the hip like it’s nothing, long back 50s on the big coping, I’m probably forgetting a lot.  He couldn’t quite get pivot to fakie.  I had one of the worst slams I’ve taken there missing on a back 50 and barely missing my tailbone on the coping.  I got my wrists really good though.  I had tried to get kickflip, but couldn’t quite get it.  Had some fun carve grinds, front slashes and a front smith that was supposed to be a disaster.  Jake and I encouraged Saul to do his patented fast carve grind lines that are always a treat to see.   Saul had some close long back 50s.  Gotta stay a little more inside on those!  After some chatting we went over to the school where Saul hit the curbs and Jake and I played SKATE.  Well, mostly.  I was at SKAT and Jake was at SKA.  I was happy to get first try halfcab flip, but struggled with fakie bigflip or heelflip.  I was on the 8” setup.  Jake started to go in on treflips, but started to feel dizzy from hunger and sat down.  I went on to get a treflip in about 10-15 tries that was a nice way to end the day.

(setups saulside 8.5, normal 8”, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Knowing more snow is coming and the wind had died down a little I headed to campus after dinner and some wine. I was on a different setup altogether. 8” with 8.25” trucks and small wheels again. Why not right? I started with a couple curb stalls at the new meetup spot then rolled down to the yellow lurb. There was some snow near the fence, but it was mostly fine. I didn’t do much of anything. Actually, now that I think about it I probably only landed crooks to fakie and front tail without any slide. I was kind of close to front nosegrind 180 and back 50s. But was bummed how much I struggled with back 50. I had a kickflip that felt so incredibly easy though. I also hucked some halfcab heels as it’s a trick I’d like to do in a line there. Then I rolled down to the new area hoping to try and ollie onto some taller ledge. But almost everything was unskateable because of snow or ice. I did some rock ’n rolls on the bank, but that was about it. I hit a wood bench in the covered area and did noseslide and noseslide to fakie, a fakie flip and good feeling halfcab flip. I looked at some other spots, but they were all snowy or covered in gravel so I just went home.

(setup 8’ null archway deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, bones medium bushings, spitfire 50mm classic shape f4 99a, new balance. numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)(pain level 2/10 felt surprisingly loose just didn’t have much mental drive)

On a crisp morning after some snow I went to Longmont to meet Rob and the Dave’s at Rocky Mountain. The hope was that since it gets so much snow it would be dry. It was, except for some run off at the ledge. I rode my 8.5 again for some dumb reason and went on to completely suck. In 2 hours I landed one crook with an unintentional manual out that almost went the distance to the curb, some kickflips and one sloppy heelflip. I was 0-20ish on front 50s and posed some front crooks. There was a young kid there skating hard. He was rad. He had some 5-0s on the ledge, treflips on flat and heelflipped over a median on the bank. Dave L treated us to his casual style. Lots of manuals, ollied onto the bank medians, did some cool Cali grind nollie shoves (you just have to see it), back tails and almost back tail shove. Rob had manuals, back 180s up to cab kickturn on the bank, switch boardslide the ledge, nollie lipslides on the curb. Fuller, aka the energizer bunny skated great. He was mostly hitting the banks initially. Ollies up to feeble the side curb, boardslide fakies, halfcab noseslide. He did a crazy line I don’t quite remember right now. I think it was nollie to fakie on a bank, switch crook ride off the curb, ollie up front 50 the ledge. There was a trick before that I’m missing. The Dave’s did wallies off a rock at the end. One of them even did it to manual, can you guess which one?

(setup null 8.5 spanbauer deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.8 titanium hanger cast baseplate, bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire classic shape f4 99a, new balance numeric 212 size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)(pain level 5/10)

On an incredibly nice morning I rolled to Denver, picked up Kevin then went to the Rhino plaza. Kevin and I warmed up with some flat ground and nose slide variations on some benches. Nothing too special. Noseslides, nose slides to fakie, crooks, etc. Kickflips for me, nollie flips for Kevin. It was so warm out. 55 degrees felt like 80 after how cold it’s been. Cass showed up and slammed super hard on a puddle at the start. It was brutal. He recovered and shortly after we went to the “flatbar” which was now about 6” off the ground. Kevin was able to front and back 50 it. Cass may have gotten front 50. I posed some front smiths that turned into little jjbs. Then we skated the orange double ledges. Kevin had some good front 50s hop the gap back to 50. Cass had front nose. I had some crooks and felt out noseslide through the gap.

Then we went to the nearby escalator ledge, gave it some rub brick love and started skating it. It had started getting cloudy and cooling off a little bit, but still quite nice out. The ledge was harder to skate than it looks. After not skating outside for so long it felt cool to just flow around and do slappies, flip tricks, ollie over manholes, etc. Cass had done a better noseslide shove. Kevin and I did some crooks. Mine felt good and then I saw the footage. Doh. Cass had a nice treflip. Kevin and Cass did 3 shove late flips. Wow. I couldn’t even treflip.

Then we went real close to a bar that had a crappy quarterpipe outside of it. Cass got food while Kevin and I skated it. It was about 4 feet tall, soggy, slippery and falling a part. it was kind of funny because the asphalt was pretty good, but it took awhile to adjust to slowing down that quickly. Kevin of course ripped it. Nollie flips, switch flips, back d, switch front d, pivot fakie. Then he went to eat. I mostly just skated flatground very badly. Oh yeah I was skating my 8.25 at the first spot, but had switched to the 8.5 for the second for reason’s I do not really know. I tried to get a line of halfcab flip on flat, b/s flip low on the qp, treflip on flat. Never got the kickflip, but got a couple treflips in a row and several halfcab flips.

(setups 8.25/8.5 ventures/ 52mm wheels, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

This Feb has been brutal. Went out to the garage after work again for an hour of flatground. Warm up tricks were whatever. Got to treflip pretty quickly and committed to the first one, but didn’t land it. This would happen almost 50 more times before I landed one. I don’t get it, I was committing to almost every one of them and felt like they would be makes. I didn’t get angry somehow and got a couple more pretty quickly after the first one. After that I was beat, tried nollie flips for a bit then switch front heels. But I was out of juice.

(setup null archway 8″, jessup ultragip, venture 5.2 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire 50mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Shortly after work on a snowy night I hit the garage. I had modified the putter by giving it some 8″ high trucks. So maybe it’s not really a ‘putter’ anymore. I started with the 306 shoes again and on the 8.25 setup. But quickly I was back in the comfy 212s and on the 8″ setup. Kickflips felt great as did fakie flips. Posed nollie front heels and nollie inward heels for a bit. Got halfcab flip, b/s flip, not a good f/s flip and took awhile to get heelfilp, varial flip before going in on the treflip challenge. Similar to last night I thought I would get it right away. Instead it took me 14 tries to get the first one, the second was a few tries later and the third came after 28 tries total. 3/28 is pretty terrible, but much less terrible than 3/55 like last night. I went on to nollie flips and felt like I was pretty close until I watched the footage. I gotta jump higher. Got an over 80 varial heel 3rd try, but couldn’t clean it up. Tried switch f/s flip and was not close. Then switch front heel and some felt relatively close. Should keep that one in the rotation.

(setup null archway 8″, jessup ultragip, venture 5.2 v-hollow, bones medium bushings, spitfire 50mm f4 99a classic shape, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

Another cold and snowy night. Went to the garage after work. I wore some old 306s because I wanted to see if I can wear them or need to order new 212s soon. They felt good with a thin insole. Warming up wasn’t as good as normal. I did get the first couple kickflips, moved on to fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip then treflip. I will blame the different shoes slightly for not being as grippy. But in no way completely to blame for the failing that ensued on treflips. The thing is I was committing right out of the gate. I thought I was gonna get them quick. Nope. I was so angry, yelling, throwing my board (in a manner that would not chip it). Some 40 tries in I grabbed the putter and got a treflip that try. After a few fails I went back to the 8.25 which wasn’t close. So back to the putter and I got the next two in a row. So basically around 55 tries to get my 3 treflip garage quota. I calmed down after landing them and stuck with the putter and did some hucking. Nollie heel (not close), switch b/s flip (not close but feels doable), nollie bigflip (I’ve landed a couple but it’s s o hard in this little space). I ended on a somewhat tolerable f/s flip. Then I went inside super angry and tried to mellow out and watch some basketball.

(setups 8.25 with 5.6 and 52mm wheels, 8″ with 5.0 lows and 50mm wheels, new balance numeric 306 navy/white size 12, thin sole tech insoles)
(pain level 3/10)

After a nap and a tough day at work I went to the garage before dinner. I had seen this video and wanted to try some cancel flips. I hadn’t sone many exercises throughout the day so warming up wasn’t easy. I slammed pretty hard on a pop shove and got discouraged. So I went for kickflip and after a few of those I started hucking cancel flips. I could tell I wasn’t doing them quite right so I setup my phone to record in slow motion to get an idea of what I was doing. Then I landed it that try. I don’t know if it’s technically a cancel flip, but it starts to flip and I cancel it with the back foot so I think so? Anyway, it felt really cool and it was only like 10 tries. That never happens. I didn’t really feel like trying any more. I did fakie flip, b/s flip. I hucked halfcab heel for awhile, but didn’t land one. Then I went in on treflips. I was determined to not take as long to get my 3 treflip minimum. I got the first on in 9 tries which is longer than I wanted, but not terrible for me. Second one at 14 tries, 3rd at 23 tries. 3/23 is my best in a long time. I was left with more time and almost didn’t know what to do. So I hucked. I was very close to switch flips, not close to nollie heel, kinda close to nollie bigflip. Then I went in for dinner. Fun session. Landing a new trick in only a few tries felt incredible. As did getting a few treflips without losing my mind.

(setup 8.25 303 deck, jessup ultragrip, venture 5.6 cast baseplate v-hollow hanger, bones medium bushings, bones 52mm v1 stf 103a wheels, new balance numeric 212 b/w size 11.5/12, nike sb zoom air insoles)
(pain level 3/10)